Category: Geography

Homeward Bound

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I returned home from North Texas 54 days ago. This is Part 8 of 8 – the conclusion of my recap of my 10-day experience with my family for Thanksgiving and the week after.

After my gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW) changed from B18 to B17 to B14 to B11 in less than 2½ hours – it changed once again – to D2. That’s right – a completely different terminal !

I got the text message from American Airlines (#AA), and others sitting at the gate obviously got the same text message at the same time, as we all reacted pretty much the same way. We were aggravated, but there was no time for aggravation because boarding would begin in just 38 minutes at a gate far away from there. We all got up, gathered our carry-on bags, and walked briskly to the nearest Skylink (automated people mover) station to reach the new terminal and gate. Of course – Gate D2 was perhaps as far away as possible from the Terminal D (Gates 1-22) Skylink station (and pretty much all other “D” gates). We all made it to the new gate, and we all got good exercise doing so. Strangely – a lot of people were already at that gate, and it looked like they had been there for a while. They obviously knew about Gate D2 long before many of us did.

After a brief respite it was time to board the aircraft to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ). As with the incoming flight 10 days earlier – the outgoing flight was not quite full, but close to it. There was plenty of space available in the overhead bins, and the middle seat next to mine was vacant. I had a window seat 3 rows from the rear, and I stared out at the sky towards the NNE for much of the flight. Once at cruising altitude I ate a couple of Pop-Tarts, and then I enjoyed the Lotus Biscoff cookies that are handed out on most #AA flights. Additionally – the flight attendants gave us a bag of pretzels. Two complimentary snacks at the same time !

I also enjoyed a cup of black coffee to go with my multiple snacks. Their coffee has always been delicious, but now it appears that they are in the process of switching / upgrading to Lavazza‘s premium coffee blends. That should be available on my next flights later this year.

The flight from #DFW to #SRQ took a normal route ESE across Louisiana and the Gulf straight into Florida – landing more than 10 minutes early. It took a while (longer than normal) to retrieve my baggage at the carousel. (Mine was one of the last bags to appear.)

After that I went to the wrong location to pick-up the shuttle bus to the parking area. I went to the area for hotel shuttles. I blame that on a lack of clear and proper signage. I eventually figured it out on my own due to no available help from anyone who worked at the airport – inside or outside. The shuttle bus driver took me to the secluded parking lot over near the control tower off Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41). There were two vehicles remaining in that temporary overflow parking lot (which was obviously closed for new parking), and mine was obviously one of the two.

The 78-mile drive back home was uneventful – taking me 1-hour and 49-minutes through Sarasota-Bradenton suburbia and into the countryside and up into the hills. I had to deal with a few slow drivers in front of me and a few tailgaters behind me. I arrived home at 7:26 PM on Saturday December 06TH 2025. My 10-day and 6½-hour Thanksgiving trip to and from Wylie Texas was complete. I enjoyed refreshing my memory and writing about it over the next 2½ weeks following my return. (I completed this post on Christmas Eve.) I hope that you enjoyed reading about it over the past couple of months.

As for my next trip to visit family – that may occur in less than 3 months. As for next Thanksgiving – I’ll likely revert back to tradition and fly out 8 days before the holiday (instead of the night before) – and I’ll return back home on the night after the holiday (#BlackFriday). Or maybe I’ll do something completely different and stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday and instead visit my family during the week leading-up to Christmas. I’ll figure it all out in a few months. #StayTuned

How was my driving in 2025 ? I’ll look back at it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags American, Bradenton, Dallas, DFW, Florida, Sarasota, SRQ, Texas, Thanksgiving, Wylie

Blogging Driving Food Geography History Holidays Home Movies Travel Weather

My Final Morning In The DFW

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 22, 2026
No Comments on My Final Morning In The DFW

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the start of my last full day in North Texas from November 26TH to December 06TH. (It was another movie and another lunch out for me and my brother.) We saw the movie in the longtime movie theatre building that we saw many movies from the Summer of 2007 to the Summer of 2013 – Cinemark Legacy in north Plano along U.S. 75. It’s been there since the late-1990s. My brother used to live in neighboring Allen, and that’s where we enjoyed our West Philly-style cheesesteak lunch after.

Fun Facts: Over 400,000 residents live in Plano and Allen combined. They are located about 25 miles NNE of Downtown Dallas – a straight shot down U.S. 75 (also known as the North Central Expressway). The frequently congested freeway was built in the 1950s and 1960s from south to north. It greatly contributed to suburban sprawl northeastward from Dallas into Collin County. About 1.3 million residents call Collin County home. In 1960 the population was a little over 41,000.

On that Friday December 05TH I spent much of the rest of the day packing and preparing for my return trip back home to Florida the next day.

My last morning was the start of yet another cold, cloudy, and foggy day in the #DFW. Hopefully incoming and outgoing flights wouldn’t be affected by the low ceiling. No need for me to worry about things I can’t control.

My brother went out early in the fog to his favorite local family-owned donut shop. (There are lots of them all around the area – most of them in strip shopping centers. They all seem to have a nondescript sign in front of their space that simply says “DONUT” or “DONUTS”.)

My brother got me a cronut and an apple fritter. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a cronut before, and my brother wanted me to try one. Mine was like an extra-thick honey-glazed donut, or two such donuts fried together as one. (It’s essentially a croissant-donut hybrid that’s made with croissant dough and then deep-fried like a donut.) I would eat another one if my brother got me another one on my next visit to Texas. The apple fritter is just a personal favorite pastry of mine.

After short hugs and goodbyes to my best canine friend, my two nieces, and my sister-in-law – me and my brother headed to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW). The fog continued the entire way, but it wasn’t too thick.

I checked-in at Terminal B. My checked suitcase was a few pounds heavier than it was 10 days earlier when I flew into Texas. (I think it was up to 36½ pounds.) TSA PreCheck was a bit weird. It had its own dedicated line, but it ended up at the exact same CT X-ray bag scanner line for everyone else. The TSA agent simply took turns with both lines asking the next person to step forward. So – it was weird, but I only had to wait an extra minute or two to place my carry-on bags in the bins to be scanned. I did receive a card that identified me as TSA PreCheck. I gave that card to the next agent, and I went through a dedicated body scanner.

I had to wait awhile on the other (secure) side, as the bag scanner was “hiccupping” as my bag was being scanned – as well as the bag ahead of mine (belonging to someone else). So – they had to pick-up those bags / bins and rescan them. All was good after that.

I headed to my gate after that, and then when the gate changed to a few gates away – I moved there too. (It actually changed from B18 to B17 to B14 to B11 in less than 2½ hours that morning.)

And then it changed to a completely different terminal (D) just 38 minutes before boarding would begin. That annoyed those of us who were sitting comfortably at Gate B11 – including a pilot. Now we had to walk fast to pick-up the Skylink to reach the new terminal and gate. I’ll let you know how that went – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Cronut, Dallas, DFW, Texas, Thanksgiving, Wylie

Blogging Driving Food Geography History Holidays Home Movies Travel Weather

Coffee & Food

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about me and my brother’s fun visit to the historic (built in 1905) “Thomas And Mattie Brown House Welcome Center” (known more commonly as “Welcome Center At Brown House”). I’ll continue to follow them on their Facebook page, and it’ll be a regular visit (I hope) every time I visit my family in Wylie Texas. After all – it’s the official Welcome Center for the city of Wylie. It also sounds like they rotate and swap out displays on a regular basis, so it’ll be fun to see what’s different with each new visit.

It’s on Ballard Avenue in the historic downtown district. Another regular visit along Ballard is Ballard Street Cafe – a popular one-location family-owned restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch from 6 AM to 2 PM every day (7 AM to 2 PM on Sundays). It’s really good food. Somehow – someway – we didn’t make it there for breakfast like we usually do. That’s high on the docket for my next visit to Wylie.

We did make it to Shoemaker & Hardt – or – as my brother and I have referred to it for the past 6 years now – “Hardcastle & McCormick”. It’s also on Ballard, and it’s a hybrid gourmet coffee shop and gift shop that’s been open for almost 30 years. I always walk around looking at the various items for sale as I await the creation of my delicious hot (or iced) beverage. It smells really good in there with a hybrid of coffee and candles.

Thursday December 04TH 2025 – the same day that this current #TravelThursday series from Texas began – was a mostly stay-at-home day. It was also another cold, dark, dreary, and drizzly day in the low-40s. Me and my brother went out during the lunch hour, and we made two stops.

The first stop was to Dutch Bros. It’s a drive-thru coffee chain that was born in Oregon in 1992. It’s approaching 1,100 locations nationwide with a goal of 4,000 locations soon. (Sebring is one of the potential new locations as suggested by a recent Facebook post. It would be located almost directly across the street from our existing Starbucks and Panera.)

After that we went back to Cotton Patch Cafe (which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago). This time me and my brother each selected a dessert from their menu, and my brother ordered them in advance via their web site. I selected the Bread Pudding (classic southern style, cinnamon custard, caramel drizzle). My brother ordered the Mama’s Special Butter Cake (butter cake with a cheesecake layer, whipped cream, caramel sauce). My brother picked them up at the special pick-up entrance. We took our desserts home, and we enjoyed them with our fancy coffees.

Later that same night my sister-in-law cooked dinner for us – baked steak (one of her specialties) and mashed potatoes with gravy. And of course the gravy is also for the baked steak.

T.G.I.F. It’s my last full day in North Texas. After another movie (our 4TH in a week) – me and my brother ate more delicious food. For lunch we went to Big Tony’s West Philly Cheesesteaks in Allen Texas. The guy running the restaurant at the time got my order mixed up with the guy who ordered right after me. I think we ordered the same daily special (double-meat cheesesteak with fries), but I ordered mine with no onions, and the other guy ordered his with onions. He got no onions. I got all the onions. But it actually wasn’t that bad, and I ate most of the onions. (It would’ve been tastier minus the onions.)

On the next #TravelThursday – I eat a cronut, an apple fritter, two pop-tarts, two cookies, a small bag of pretzels, and two more pop-tarts as I make my way back home to Sebring Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Dallas, Texas, Thanksgiving, Victorian, Wylie

Blogging Driving Food Geography History Holidays Home Travel

The Brown House

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. On Wednesday December 03RD 2025 me and my brother started our day at a popular deli in Far North Dallas – Deli-News. We’ve been there many times for lunch over the past 18 years. It’s actually located within a few miles of my brother’s first workplace in the Dallas Texas area – as well as his first home with his new wife at the time. I got the “New York Diner Classic” – “mounds of thinly sliced roast beef and topped with our special brown gravy and served open faced”. It was very good, and it should’ve been very good at $21.99. It was definitely high-quality roast beef. It came with a side. I chose their Potato Salad.

But that’s not what this post is about. After lunch we returned to Wylie Texas – specifically the historic downtown district along Ballard Avenue. We visited the “Thomas And Mattie Brown House Welcome Center” (known more commonly as “Welcome Center At Brown House”). It’s a historic Queen Anne Victorian house (built in 1905) that houses a museum, gift shop, and offices. It also serves as the official welcome center for the city of Wylie Texas. They are open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11 AM to 5 PM from November to March with extended hours from April to October. Admission is free.

The city of Wylie owns and operates the museum with part-time paid employees. Unlike our museum back home in Sebring Florida where we encourage (and hope for) financial support from visitors, members, and businesses – the museum in Wylie has its own allocated budget and can’t accept donations. But if you want to support them then you can buy something at their gift shop. All gift shop proceeds support the 501(c)(3) Wylie Historical Society non-profit organization.

Upon arrival – I immediately signed their guest book, and I also quickly revealed that I am also in the museum business. We got a nice tour of the museum – which occupies much of the bottom floor. (The top floor is for staff only.)

A dozen uniquely themed Christmas trees covered nearly every corner of the museum. I especially liked the patriotic tree that will likely stay in place as is until America’s 250TH birthday less than 6 months from now. I remarked to Tracy – a Guest Service Specialist at the museum – that I need to return on my next visit to Wylie in the summertime to check out what it looks like without all of the Christmas trees. Me and my brother had a very nice conversation with Tracy – maybe half of it as a visitor – and the other half of it as a fellow museum worker. I walked away with some great ideas (and dreams) for my own historic house museum back home.

Fun Facts: The Brown House was a private residence from 1905 to 1988. It was purchased by a local trust fund in 1989 to use as office space and create a library and historical museum. Their mission was to restore the house to the way it originally looked in 1905. Over a half-million dollars was spent to restore the house. The City Of Wylie purchased the house from the Trust in 2015. It was initially used for event rentals and special events. After several years of weather-related repairs (due to hail, snow, and ice storms) – it officially became the Welcome Center and Museum in August 2022.

On the next #TravelThursday – coffee, coffee, dessert, movie, cheesesteak, and cronuts. Let’s keep traveling together.